236 NARRATIVE OF A JOURNEV 



" And who made my people what they are ?" This question 

 was put in a low voice, almost a whisper, and was accompanied 

 by a look so savage and malignant, that I almost quailed before 

 the imbecile old creature. I, however, answered quickly, with- 

 out giving him time to reply to his own question. 



" The Great Spirit, Maniquon," pointing with my finger im- 

 pressively upwards. 



" Yes, yes — it vms the Great Spirit ; it was not the white 

 man /" I could have been almost angry with the old Indian for 

 the look of deadly hostility with which he uttered these last 

 words, but that I sympathized with his wounded pride, and pitied 

 his sorrows too much to harbor any other feeling than commise- 

 ration for his manifold wrongs. 



February 3d, 1836. — During a visit to Fort William, last 

 week, I saw, as I wandered through the forest, about three miles 

 from the house, a canoe, deposited, as is usual, in the branches of 

 a tree, some fourteen feet from the ground. Knowing that it 

 contained the body of an Indian, I ascended to it for the purpose 

 of abstracting the skull ; but upon examination, what was my 

 surprise to find a perfect, embalmed body of a young female, in 

 a state of preservation equal to any which I had seen from the 

 catacombs of Thebes. I determined to obtain possession of it, 

 but as this was not the proper time to carry it away, I returned 

 to the fort, and said nothing of the discovery which I had made. 



That night, at the witching hour of twelve, I furnished myself 

 with a rope, and launched a small canoe, which I paddled up 

 against the current to a point opposite the mummy tree. Here I 

 ran my canoe ashore, and removing my shoes and stockings, 

 proceeded to the tree, which was about a hundred yards from the 

 river. I ascended, and making the rope fast around the body, 

 lowered it gently to the ground ; then arranging the fabric which 

 had been displaced, as neatly as the darkness allowed, I de- 

 scended, and taking the body upon my shoulders, bore it to my 



